What You Need To Know Before Downloading iOS 9

If pre-ordering a new iPhone isn’t in your sights this year, no stress. You can still get a ton of new features on your current iPhone just by upgrading it to the latest version of iOS, which is available for download today.

iOS 9 is the latest in the evolution of your mobile phone experience. From using the final versions of the public beta in recent weeks, I’ve found that iOS 9 really ties together aspects of your iPhone that felt unused and disparate before. Now, many features — things like Siri, Search, and, yes, even Maps — are more powerful and more useful. (And Apple spruced up the looks of a lot of app icons and interfaces, too.)

Like with what we’ve seen of the upcoming iPhone 6s, the main benefit of iOS 9 is that it streamlines your experience so that you can get things done faster and more easily. It helps you find the information you’re looking for more quickly, and it reduces the number of taps and swipes it takes to do whatever you do on your phone most often, whether that be texting your two best friends or finding a new place for dinner.

If you have an iPhone 4s or newer, you can upgrade to iOS 9 — just be sure to backup your phone first. Whether you’re ready to download now, or in a week, click ahead for the seven best new features of iOS 9, and how to use them.